Sunday, June 15, 2008

I'm up at the San Francisco Zen Center again. This place is getting to be like a second home or something. Or I'm getting to be like an unwanted guest who keeps stopping by and will never leave. But I'm here again anyway.

Starting Wednesday I'll be sitting a five-day sesshin at the Berkeley Zen Center. That should be boring. Don't know how I got talked into that one. But my friend Greg somehow managed to. This will be my second of four multi-day sittings I'm scheduled to do this year. God, how I hate them! And I'm not even leading this one! I'm just one of the grunts on the cushions.

I don't know if I should say I hate multi-day Zen sittings. I mean, I definitely do hate them. But I also enjoy them. The first time I did one I felt like I was embarking on a great adventure. After I'd done a dozen or so of them I started viewing them as a chore, especially when I started having to lead the damned things. Now I don't know how I view them. I have no real sense of anticipation or dread with this one. It's just a thing I'm doing. I'm still waiting for the company I work for (or do I?) to get their stuff together, which is supposed to happen sometime in July. So what else do I have to do? Might as well get some Zazen in.

I highly recommend anyone who's serious about Zen practice to do at least one multi-day sesshin a year. I think a two or three-day one is fine. Somehow the ones I lead in Shizuoka, Japan each year (see the link to your left for details) got extended to four days. And that's OK. But I kinda want to bring those back down to three again.

There's a depth of practice you get into in a multi-day sitting that just doesn't happen otherwise. It's good to get into this depth. But it's also important to come back out of it. Sometimes people get the mistaken impression that the deep stuff is somehow more important than the normal day-to-day stuff. And that's not true at all. Still, try a multi-day one sometime if you can.

But before that, I get to go talk at San Quentin again. That happens this afternoon. If I can, I'll post something about the trip tomorrow. That is, unless I get kidnapped in a prison uprising or something.

34 comments:

What I just hate with sesshins is that they're so bloody expensive. I can never afford one (at 300 euros a week-end, you get to think twice about it). If I had enough students, I might do one, but i have far too few, and I don't care for having more. (Or do I?)

If I ever do a sesshin, it won't be the sitting that will bother me, it will be the damned oryoki. I once did a retreat at Karme Choling, where they also do oryoki, After a monk explained all the protocol that goes with oryoki, I let out a big sigh, and the monk gave me a dirty look. I lost ten pounds during the retreat. Couldn't gobble my food down fast enough with chopsticks.

I'm thinking of doing the Shizuoka thing this year. What should I be sure to bring? What do I need to wear. Does anyone have one of those camp lists for a sesshin that lists everything I'll need (except for name tags on my zafu). Do I need to bring my own Zafu?!

Oh heck, if a sesshin is so boring and painful, maybe I'll just stay home and spend the money on a Wii Fit.

Samue? Pretentious? Try the $30-$40 ones on eBay if you're so inclined. The $130 ones in the above link seem a bit steep to me. Some people like official Zen clothes, some don't. How is it pretentious to wear particular clothes if the wearer feels that those clothes show a greater respect for Zen tradition?

Oh, one more thing: I agree, best,hardest and surprising thing I ever done: a 5 day silent retreat. Not sure if it has to be Sesshine Style retreat though. Next stop for me: 10 day silent retreat...ohwei. My biggest concern is that I will be SOOO sore from sitting and in pain a lot. BUT, it's part of the fun I guess :)BTW, this is free, I KNOW how crazy are those people not cashing in?! Bastards, taking away the excuse not to do it :)www.dhamma.org Vipassana Meditation Centers

I am going to say, just for the record, I think it's awesome that Brad goes and does work at prisons. Seriously, mad respect for that. I'm sure the "Tibetan" dude represents the way a lot of Buddhists feel about the incarcerated, like they're somehow lesser beings that needs to be treated as such. The truth is, in the US, we live in a prison country. We have a hard-on for building new prisons, sending people to those prisons, and keeping them there. We incarcerate more of out population that any other industrialized nation and many non-industrialized ones, and we've made prison a big business. Now, I disagree with Brad's assertion that all suffering comes from oneself and his tendency to place meditation as more important to making things better than direct engagement, and these both relate to the prison issue in general; but he's taking a huge, fairly gutsy step by doing this.

Unfortunately, in my experience, Mahayana Buddhism in the west often only comes in two flavors; thupka and white bread. It's easy to sit around talking about saving all beings as a Bodhisattva, as long as you can sit at a stupa in Sedona or a zendo in Seattle and not have to actually deal with those beings. So, hats off to Brad.

Yeah, my dutiful obedient Japanese wife of the last 24 years brought me a hemp Samue hand-dyed in in indigo last year. I wore it ONCE, in California. By the standards of the local Japanese, it was quite pretentious for a long-nosed round-eye hakajin to be seen in one.

I guess humble doesn't include wanna-be monk stuff Mou Sukoshi more than a few hundred bucks.

"BTW, this is free, I KNOW how crazy are those people not cashing in?! Bastards, taking away the excuse not to do it :)www.dhamma.org Vipassana Meditation Centers"

They aren't just crazy, they are HERETICS! Don't you know Vipassana is not REAL Buddhism? They probably sit in the wrong posture and maybe even close their eyes. Run as far away from this faux buddhist group as possible. Only zen is real buddhism. Wait, no. Only soto zen is real buddhism...wait...no...only japanese soto zen as taught by master Dogen is real buddhism...no...only zen as understood and practiced by master nishijima and brad is real buddhism. Really real. Exactly how Siddhartha meant it to be...told me so hisself.

Anonymous sdds sed..."By the standards of the local Japanese, it was quite pretentious for a long-nosed round-eye hakajin to be seen in one."

And you care? Wow.

Yep - harmony is what I care about, not the reaction of some individual. Our sociologist could explain it as tribal, I would use herd-minded. A few older people reduced the comfort level of my wife. No more than that.

If we lived in harmony with nature, we might be entering an ice-age instead of facing runaway global warming. A cold death is nature's way and we chose a hot death instead.

Samue (Blue Cotton)Samue is the work clothing of a Japanese Zen monk. Made from cotton or linen and traditionally dyed brown or indigo to distinguish them from formal vestments, samue are worn by monks performing labour duty such as temple maintenance and field work. In modern times they have become popular as general casual or work wear.

Our sangha in Wichita is associated with the Atlanta Soto Zen Center. When Elliston Roshi (abbot ASZC) was here a few years ago giving the public zazen instruction portion of a sesshin, he recommended hakama pants for sitting.

As for the Japanese and samue: Should we, as Americans, turn up our noses when the Japanese wear sebiro (Western business suit) ?

meg, I seriously doubt your intent was anything other than innocent, and I don't mean to disparage anyone who does this sort of thing (MANY do) with the following comment, just to suggest . . .

No person wants to be told they resemble someone who is considered by most to be unnattractive. If ever you think someone looks like a famous person, unless you believe most others consider that famous person attractive, sharing your opinion with the "lookalike" can only serve to satisfy a selfish desire and possibly (in fact, probably, hurt the alleged "lookalike").

And, by the way, I completely disagree with the King-Warner comparison.

If zazen turns into 'what you are wearing' rather than 'you are there,' then it may be time to find another group to sit with.

Baggy pants and one size too large dark colored long sleeve tea shirt or lightweight sweats are just fine...

Hisako brought me the Samue because her maternal great-uncle is a 'big wig' in an elite temple. The Samue had the desired effect on the locals (California Japanese) and NOW, they get it... The 'old monk' and I have been close for a decade.

GET IT??? They were set up like so many bowling pins... and... LOL (keep it a secret - monks sometimes screw with the heads of the haute couture within.)